Why Dead Silence Should Become Part Of The Conjuring Universe

The 2007 supernatural horror movie Dead Silence should become a part of The Conjuring universe — here’s why. The movie was directed by James Wan, who also directed the 2013 horror movie, The Conjuring, and its two direct sequels, among numerous other credits. Dead Silence was written by Leigh Whannell, who also wrote several other movies directed by Wan, including Saw, Insidious, and the latter movie’s sequels. Dead Silence was a scary success when it was released, but attempts at creating sequels ultimately faltered.

The story of Dead Silence stars with a focus on Jamie and Ella Ashen (Ryan Kwanten and Amber Valletta), a married couple who receive a strange, anonymous gift: a ventriloquist doll named “Billy”. Shortly after they receive the gift, Jamie leaves the house to pick up a takeout dinner order, leaving Lisa to play with the doll. While he’s gone, a horrific incident occurs. When Jamie returns home, he finds Lisa dead with her tongue cut out. Initially, Jamie is taken into custody by Detective Jim Lipton (Donnie Wahlberg), as a suspect in the case. Eventually, he’s released due to lack of evidence, and he tries to figure out what exactly happened to his wife. Jamie uncovers various clues and hints that suggest the gifted ventriloquist doll, Billy, is possessed by a spirit. Jamie comes to believe that this spirit—a woman named Mary Shaw—was behind Lisa’s gruesome murder.

If this sounds familiar to fans of The Conjuring universe, that’s because there is a lot of overlap between Dead Silence and Wan’s later outings in one of his most successful franchises to date, which began in 2013 — six years after Dead Silence released. As The Conjuring universe has since branched out, there’s plenty of room for Wan and Leigh Whannell to continue Dead Silence and its story—which is highlighted by an excellent villain—as another The Conjuring spin-off movie. The Conjuring franchise doesn’t only contain the original movie and its two follow-up sequels. It also encompasses the 2014 movie Annabelle and its two sequels, along with 2018’s The Nun and 2019’s The Curse of La Llorona. Plus, more movies are planned to enter the franchise in the coming years.

Given the expansion of The Conjuring universe and its spin-off sequels, if Dead Silence had been made after 2013, it probably would have automatically been included in the fold. Dead Silence is extremely similar to the Annabelle movies in that it centers around a doll that has been possessed by an evil entity. Billy the possessed puppet could easily be one of the many haunted objects on display in the home of Ed and Lorraine Warren, the paranormal investigators who appear across The Conjuring movies who are based on real people — the Warrens’ case files have been the primary inspiration for the franchise. In The Conjuring movies, The Warrens are often depicted banishing evil spirits from homes and objects; a potential Dead Silence sequel could explore them dealing with Billy again, Mary Shaw herself, or even a different haunted ventriloquist doll.

It would be apt for Wan to officially declare another of his supernatural horror movies as part of The Conjuring franchise. If this happened, perhaps this move would inspire new Dead Silence sequels, which in the past were proposed, but eventually fell apart. It’s been more than a decade since Dead Silence came out. Since then, Wan has firmly established himself as a leader in the horror genre, and is one of the most exciting new directors in the 21st century. With renewed publicity, the original Dead Silence and potential sequels would surely be instant successes.

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